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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Ah, the ever-lovely (and always entertaining) Crystal Veeyant has done it again with Sissy Bride. With its setting, characters, and layers of drama, this is a book that reads very much like an fairytale romance novel or an erotic novel of manners - with, of course, a transgender twist. It's very different from Crystal's usual fare, but it's refreshing to see her branching out into some new forms of storytelling.

Basically, this is the story of a young man sold as a bride to save the family farm - only to discover he actually likes being a bride, and that he's quickly falling in love with his new husband. There's some magic involved that quickens his development from sissy to shemale, but what fairy tale wouldn't be complete without a little magic? Things get exciting when Jack starts lending Carla out to friends, and then get complicated with Carla discovers that Jack has a fetish for crossdressing himself. When royalty gets involved, both are forced to submit to the whims of the court, but certainly have a lot of fun doing so.

Sissy Bride was sexy, erotic, and imaginative - all things we've come to expect from Crystal - but also clever, humorous, and romantic. I suspect this will be bringing some new fans and follower her way.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Well, if it's Friday, then that must been it's time for Freebie Fiction Friday!

Every Friday I take the initiative to search through thew newly free titles on Amazon, and to identify those that might be of interest to trans* readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don't have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon's free reading applications, and covert it (if need be) with Calibre. I can tell you I do most of my reading on my iPad, using Kindle for iPad, and it works beautifully.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, though, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

Some slim pickings this morning, but still some interesting titles to explore:

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Every once in a while you get introduced to a literary relationship where both reader and author click at an intimate level. The last time it happened was when Caroline Jane Wetherby introduced me to her Caroline's Company saga (which I adored), and now it’s happened again with Lyka Bloom sharing her Tales of the Institute series with me (which I quickly devoured).

The series opens with Pink Surrender, which provides a sweet, sexy introduction to Lady B and her Institute, as seen through the eyes of Nikki, a committed sissy submissive, and Carol, her somewhat negligent Mistress. As for Lady B, she is a stunningly beautiful and extraordinarily charismatic shemale Mistress with whom Carol once worked, before going her own way to found the Institute. The Institute itself is a towering pink edifice, a very private sort of school for sissies, latex slaves, and bimbo submissives, which uses hypnosis, subliminal suggestion, and other forms of conditioning to bring out the hyper-sexualized, overtly feminine potential in the young men and woman who choose to attend.

Technically, they’re just supposed to be visiting, but Lady B is one of those women who know what’s best for you, and who will stop at nothing to ensure you get it. She plans to ensure Nikki gets the chance to completely realize the sissy inside, while providing Carol with the happiness that has eluded her.

Bloom has some really interesting thoughts on human sexuality and gender expression, with a really imaginative approach transformation and conditioning. She walks a fine line here between force and coercion, with intellectual consent secondary to emotional happiness. There’s a lot of implied sexual activity here, but it’s more a journey of the mind . . . and the heart.

As we move onto Pink Submission, things begin to shift subtly, pushing ever further against personal boundaries. When a young man by the name of Robert makes the mistake of trying to rob the Pink Pussycat – the gentlemen’s club where so many of the Institute’s graduates work – he’s caught in the act by none other than Lady B herself. Rather than turn him into the police, she has him brought him to the Institute, where he’s given a chance to rehabilitate himself. First, however, he must perform a few tasks to avail himself of the basic necessities of food and clothing. Once he’s crossed that simple line and pleased Lady B (intimately), her offer seems almost too good to be true – spend just two days as a student, and she’ll allow him to walk away a free man, should he so choose.

Of course, two days are more than enough for the Institute to get its hooks in him, seducing him with happy dreams of sexual bliss and contentment. Although he’s never had so much as a fleeting sissy thought, he takes to audio and visual conditioning very quickly, and before long he’s happily exchanging pleasures with the sissies who shares his classes, and the shemale who instructs them.

Having already laid the groundwork in the first book, Bloom has the freedom here to delve further into the fragility and malleable nature of human sexuality and gender expression. She strays a bit further onto the naughty side of consent, but Roberta’s transformation proves to be both the most significant and the most complete of the series.

If the first two books played with the issue of consent, Pink Bliss finally and irrevocably crosses that line. It all begins in a cold, sterile courtroom, where Barbara Klein is attempting to sue Lady B for preying upon her husband’s addictions and stealing from them both. In truth, Lady B was doing nothing but giving Ian what he wanted, helping him to find peace and happiness with the sissy inside. Nothing she’s done has hurt him, and it’s certainly left no burden on his finances. Barbara’s case is about nothing more than maintaining her own authority and getting revenge on the woman who challenged it. Much to their surprise, Lady B agrees to sign a deal, so long as they come to the Institute to discuss the terms.

There, of course, the tables are swiftly turned. Ian is immediately welcome back into the welcoming arms of the Institute, while Barbara and their lawyer are taken captive. Both are worn down in much the same way Roberta was in the previous book, before being offered a similar deal. Their lawyer succumbs to temptation almost immediately, but the battle of wills between Lady B and Barbara is a lot of fun to behold, with her ultimate submission all the more sweet because of the challenge in getting there.

Once again, even though there is a self-serving motive in protecting herself and the work of the Institute, Lady B’s actions are never cruel or punitive. She is all about helping her students, no matter how they come to the Institute, free themselves from their inhibitions, and learn to embrace the blissfully content sexual beings inside.

The series takes an even darker turn with Pink Corruption, as Lady B sets her sights on not just conditioning her students, but on controlling strangers - emotionally and physically. There is no longer any illusion of consent here, but it's still important to note that her actions are never driven by a need for punishment or revenge. She sincerely wants her students to enjoy themselves, and if that eternal bliss also serves to protect her interests, then so be it. The new technology in question here is a sort of stun gun that can fire twin probes into a subject from a distance. Targeting the hypothalamus and the frontal cortex, they permit Lady B to remotely implant thoughts, wants, needs, and emotions in a subject.

It's not long before she gets a chance to use it, when an uptight, prissy, religiously conservative young policewoman comes into The Pink Spy - Lady B's foray into voyeuristic web porn - and threatens to make trouble for her immoral enterprise. Lady B quickly takes charge, turning the prissy young woman into a wanton bimbo slut, literally overnight.

Ethically, this is probably the most challenging of the stories, but there's such a clear progression of themes and subjects that I suspect Bloom will eventually deal with the issue. This is also the first cliffhanger in the series, with more story definitely to be told.

Overall, the Tale of the Institute is incredibly imaginative and gloriously erotic. Lady B is a woman you can't help but want to please - I love the way she always dresses so that just the tip of her penis peeks out beneath her skirt - and the Institute itself is a place you can only wish existed. After all, who doesn't want to be freed from their inhibitions, stripped of all guilt and shame, and empowered to embrace the raw sexuality inside? Lyka Bloom is a stunning author with a flair for her fetishes, and I cannot wait to read more.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

The gang at TG World Books can always be counted on for fun, transformation based stories, but Secrets at Echowood College may very well be their 'biggest' tale to date. DK Masters has crafted a great tale that equal parts Buffy and X-Files, with a little gender-bending to bring it all together.

This is unique for another reason, in that the gender-bending is neither the focus of the story, nor the target of the protagonist. This is a story of good versus evil, or magical orbs, and time travelling heroes. Yes, there are transformations of students and faculty aplenty, but not of the gender variety.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Curse of the Were-Woman marks my second encounter with Dawn Carrington, following the fantastic Resurrecting Jessica (check out my review here). This time, Dawn goes for a story that's both more erotic and more fantastic, shifting gears from experimental drugs to a very interesting kind of monster.

It starts innocently enough with some sexy costumes and swapping of stories on Halloween, but when a young man discovers that his girlfriend has been cheating on him, he's only too happy to fall into the arms of her best friend, Sara. Simple enough, except for the fact that she's a were-woman, a succubus who sucks the masculinity from her victims rather than their life-essence.

This was a great tale with a nice balance between the erotic transformation and the intellectual understanding of how it all comes about. There's some nice imagination behind the mythology, and the way in which the story develops (although a bit quick) is actually quite reasonable. There are, as we discover, many forms of hunger, and some of them are more exciting to satisfy than others. While you'd be wise to beware the Curse of the Were-Woman, you may just finding yourself hungry for it.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Although Training Season isn't technically a trans* read, it contains such a lovely, straightforward, natural approach to gender that I had to give it a read. Matty Marcus is your typical (almost stereotypical) Olympic figure skater, a gay young man with an attitude and a drive to succeed. Having already cost himself one shot at gold, he's looking for a coach who can instill the discipline he needs . . . but who finds a hunky cowboy who teaches him to submit in an entirely different (and more intimate) way.

What Leta Blake has done so very, very well here is explore Matty's rather unorthodox expression of himself. Although he doesn't identify as trans* or even as genderqueer, he enjoys the look and feel of glitter lip gloss and blue eye shadow, and is quite comfortable strutting around in a silver and pink coat with a bright orange scarf. It's not about gender, it's about identity . . . about feeling beautiful and comfortable with himself.

The romance here is fiery and hot, almost confrontational at times, but it's precisely what it should be with such a clash of personalities and cultures. There power exchange element is exciting too, relying simply upon dominant and submissive roles in the bedroom, without getting too far into the paraphernalia and terminology of a 'proper' BDSM relationship. With a focus on the characters and relationships, Training Season is just as often funny and sweet as well, which makes for a lovely, balanced read.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Well, if it's Friday, then that must been it's time for Freebie Fiction Friday!

Every Friday I take the initiative to search through thew newly free titles on Amazon, and to identify those that might be of interest to trans* readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don't have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon's free reading applications, and covert it (if need be) with Calibre. I can tell you I do most of my reading on my iPad, using Kindle for iPad, and it works beautifully.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, though, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

A wide variety of tales this week with a particular focus on sissies, pegging, bondage, and transformations:

Somehow, in my switch between e-readers and email accounts, its seems a handful of titles got lost, so I'm happy to have found both the books themselves and an opportunity to share them with you!

Rainbow Briefs is a lovely YA LGBT anthology edited by Sara Winters. These are stories taken from the Goodreads Young Adult LGBT Books Group, with each based on a picture prompt shared with the group. Although comprised of about 15 stories, there are 2 in particular of interest to readers such as myself.

The first, Designing Sam, is based on the following prompt:

A slim girl with dark hair stands in front of her full-length mirror, looking into it. From the mirror, a muscular young man with the same hair and eyes stares back.

This was a powerful, emotional story of a young man coming out to a world that doesn't understand his gender, much less his sexuality. It's a sad tale a times, full of sorrow and pain, but one with an understanding (and uplifting) ending.

The second, In Unexpected Places, is one of the few that doesn't share it's prompt. Instead, it gets right to the story, which is a far less serious, almost madcap adventure about a young gay man and the young transgender woman he befriends. You can almost picture this as a 90s movie comedy, with the two outcasts trying to survive one of those too-crazy-to-be-true days.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Collected is a standalone sequel to Acquired, the first gender transformation erotica novel from Solar Harris (check out Samuel's review here). There are small wink-wink, nudge-nudge things that carry over to connect fans of the first with the second, and the technology remains the same, but Collected brings us a new story and a new protagonist.

I really liked the way in which Harris begins the book, pairing up the stories of two businessmen who are much the same at heart, but whose careers have taken drastically different paths. The unusual clause in the business deal offered to Lyle is as tantalizing as it is terrifying, but even though there's a power exchange involved, the relationship is based on compatibility and friendship, rather than lust or cruelty. His cosmetic transformation into a woman is breathtaking to behold, and detailed exquisitely by Harris, but (again) it's only to make him feel at ease with the deal, not to humiliate or control him. By the time the amazing technological transformation is introduced, Lyle is more than willing to give it a try and see how the relationship develop.

Sci-fi elements aside, this is largely an erotic romance novel, but one with a tender, transgender soul. There's also a significant (and very dark) mystery/thriller element introduced towards the end which works as an added layer that enhances the overall tale. Harris also has some interesting things to say about personal freedoms and personal relationships, with the act of body-stealing (or copying, to be precise) having interesting consequences that very much come back to haunt Lyle.

Overall, a very well-written book that demonstrates some great imagination, and some erotic ingenuity. I enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to the next chapter.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Well, if it's Friday, then that must been it's time for Freebie Fiction Friday!

Every Friday I take the initiative to search through thew newly free titles on Amazon, and to identify those that might be of interest to trans* readers, fans, and lovers. Even if you don't have a Kindle, you can still download the titles through one of Amazon's free reading applications, and covert it (if need be) with Calibre. I can tell you I do most of my reading on my iPad, using Kindle for iPad, and it works beautifully.

Please do be sure to check the price before downloading anything, though, as most freebies are limited time offers, and some are specific to certain regions.

After a few quiet weeks, another absolutely amazing selection this week, with everything from from magical transformations to transsexual lives: